1. GCSE Speaking and Listening Assessment
This does not “count” towards your final GCSE grade but appears on your certificate as a separate assessment which will be graded “pass”, “merit” or “distinction”
You will prepare a 5 minute talk on changing attitudes towards a set topic between Victorian times and today
After the talk you will need to answer questions from your peers
We will now look at a topic as a whole class to help you think about how to approach this task

2. Changing attitudes towards Poverty
The 19th Century – today

3. attitude (noun) ​ a feeling or opinion about something or someone, or a way of behaving that is caused by this.
What do you think has shaped your attitudes towards poverty?
What do you think shapes those of society in general?

4. Attitudes towards poverty in Victorian England
Go thorough the extracts in front of you and identify:
Does the author have a generally positive or negative view of the poor?
Do they show any sympathy?
Who or what do they blame for poverty?
Do they think that the government should do anything to help poor people?

5. The Poor Law
The Poor Law was the way that the poor were helped in The law said that each parish had to look after its own poor. If you were unable to work then you were given some money to help you survive. However, the cost of the Poor Law was increasing every year. By 1830 it cost about £7 million and criticism of the law was mounting.
The money was raised by taxes on middle and upper class people, causing resentment. They complained that money went to people who were lazy and did not want to work.
Critics also suggested that allowance systems made the situation worse because they encouraged poor people to have children that they could not afford to look after.
Another criticism of the old Poor Law was that it kept workers' wages low because employers knew that wages would be supplemented by money provided by the Poor Law.

6. The Poor Law Amendment Act - 1834
In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was passed by Parliament. This was designed to reduce the cost of looking after the poor as it stopped money going to poor people except in exceptional circumstances. Now if people wanted help they had to go into a workhouse to get it. The poor were given clothes and food in the workhouse in exchange for several hours of manual labour each day. Families were split up inside the workhouse. People had to wear a type of uniform, follow strict rules and were on a bad diet of bread and watery soup. Conditions were made so terrible that only those people who desperately needed help would go there.
Can you see any problems with this system?
What might be perceived as advantages of it?
Extension: Read the New Stateman article by Harry Leslie Smith

7. Have attitudes towards poverty changed since Victorian times?
Victorian attitudes towards the poor
Do you think people still think this today?
Many people believed it was the fault of the poor that they were impoverished.
Many people believed that people were “born into” the position they belonged in.
Many people believed that the poor wasted their money on alcohol and gambling.
People did not think it was the government’s responsibility to help the poor. The attitude was that people should look after themselves.
Many people were afraid of the working class and feared they would rise up and revolt.
Extension Read the New Stateman article by Kathleen Kerridge and the Guardian article by Frances Ryan